1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to modules incorporated in the side walls and connected to the plumbing of swimming pools and spas to provide one or more sheet waterfalls pleasing to the eye and restful to the ear.
2. Prior Art
The art of producing sheet waterfalls is well developed.
Customary searches turned up a number of United States patents disclosing such devices, the most pertinent of which is Lesikar U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,280 dated Nov. 21, 1989 for Waterfall Producing Unit For Use In Swimming Pools.
Applicant's apparatus, like Lesikar's, is a modular unit integrated into the plumbing system of a pool, or spa; but differs in several respects including the arrangement for introducing water into the manifold chamber and emitting water therefrom. Applicant eliminates the baffles as well as the converging, elongated tapered throat featured in the Lesikar patent and, instead, provides a compact vent formed by a short, structurally strong channel which, nevertheless, affords free fall in a smooth laminar sheet.
Delepine U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,328, patented Jun. 15, 1982, and European Patent Office No. 275084 of 7/1988, both cited in the prosecution of the Lesikar application are also considered to be of interest in the field of sheet waterfall producing units; but here, again, both disclosures involve elongated spouts, for especial use in bathtubs where structural strength is not an important consideration as it frequently is in pool or spa installations.